''Beautiful Midnight'' is the third album released by the
Matthew Good Band
Matthew Good Band was a Canadian alternative rock band formed in Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1995. The band consisted of singer-songwriter/guitarist Matthew Good, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Genn, drummer Ian Browne and bassist Geoff Lloyd. Ll ...
. It is the band's most commercially successful album. The album won the award for "
Best Rock Album
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in sev ...
" at the
2000 Juno Awards
The Juno Awards of 2000 were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 11–12 March 2000.
The primary ceremonies were hosted by The Moffatts at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) on 12 March 2000 and broadcast on CBC Television. Thi ...
.
The album produced four successful singles ("
Hello Time Bomb
Hello Time Bomb is a song by Canadian alternative rock group Matthew Good Band. It was released in September 1999 as the lead single from their third studio album, '' Beautiful Midnight''. It was nominated for Best Single at the 2000 Juno Awards ...
", "
Load Me Up
"Load Me Up" is a song by Canadian rock group Matthew Good Band. The song was released as the second single from the band's third studio album, ''Beautiful Midnight''. The song reached No. 1 on Canada's Rock chart, and continues to be one of th ...
", "
Strange Days", and "The Future is X-Rated"). Each single was accompanied by a music video, all which received frequent airplay on
Much Music
Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults.
MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...
. The success of ''Beautiful Midnight'' propelled Good to a celebrity status in Canada he eventually grew to loathe, and his interactions with the media throughout the promotional cycle for the record were often strained and unpleasant.
Commercial performance
''Beautiful Midnight'' debuted at #1 on the
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocea ...
, selling approximately 25,000 copies in its first week. It would go on to become the band's best-selling album, being certified Double Platinum in Canada on September 7, 2000. By March 2003, the album had sold 270,000 units in Canada. By 2016, the album had sold over 300,000 copies, achieving Triple Platinum status. Between 1996 and 2016, ''Beautiful Midnight'' was among the top 20 best-selling albums by Canadian bands in Canada.
Publicity
The album did not achieve the kind of success in United States as it did in Canada partially due to Good being uncooperative in playing along with the media and music industry in the country.
In a 2016 interview with
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
, Good recounted one interview with
Seventeen
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
*17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...
magazine at its Manhattan office where two female writers ("...who looked like the Stepford Wives") asked the singer to recall his first kiss.
Annoyed by the question, he recounted a story where as a teenager where he engaged in a drunken session that became sexual. The writers, Good says, were so taken back by his explicit story that they walked out of the interview.
The band was also reluctant to commit to extensively touring the United States.
Versions
The album was re-released in 2001 in the United States on
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
with an altered track listing with remixed songs from ''
Underdogs
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
''. Good has referred to it as something of a greatest hits.
A number of songs considered for inclusion on ''Beautiful Midnight'' were relegated to b-side or unreleased status. "Flashdance II" was eventually released on ''
Loser Anthems'', while "Pony Boy", which was recorded for the subsequent album ''
The Audio of Being
''The Audio Of Being'' is the fourth and final album by the Canadian rock group Matthew Good Band, released in 2001. It included two singles: "Carmelina" and "Anti-Pop". The album sold 73,000 units in Canada by March 2003 and was certified Gol ...
'', remained unreleased until ''
In a Coma'' in 2005.
The album was re-released in 2016 on LP and climbed to the top of the Canadian vinyl chart in January.
Sales of the LP were enough to convince Good to re-record some of the songs for a five-track EP titled ''I Miss New Wave: Beautiful Midnight Revisited''. It was released on December 2, 2016, alongside an accompanying tour in 2017 in which Good performed the ''Beautiful Midnight'' album in its entirety.
Good said he picked songs from "Beautiful Midnight" he thought could be improved or reworked to reflect "greater maturity" and more technical restraint.
Track listing
All tracks written by Matthew Good and Dave Genn, except where noted.
In the fashion of a concept album, the track listing uses the conceit that the album represents one night, with each song corresponding to a one-hour period leading from "05:00 pm" ("Giant") through midnight ("Let's Get It On") and ending with "Sunup" ("Running For Home").
US track listing
(Titles were altered by Atlantic Records)
# Giant
# Hello Time Bomb
# Strange Days
# Deep 6ix
# Load Me Up
# Failing the Rorschach Test
# Suburbia
#
Apparitions
Apparition may refer to:
Supernatural
*Apparitional experience, an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience
* A vision, something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy
*Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear ...
# Jenni's Song
# Boy and His ------- ---
# The Future Is X-Rated
#
Everything Is Automatic
"Everything is Automatic" is a song by the Matthew Good Band. It was released as the first single from the band's second studio album, '' Underdogs''.
Track listing
Inspiration
In a 1997 interview, Good said that he was inspired to write "Every ...
# Born to ----
# Running for Home
("Hello Time Bomb", "Strange Days", "Deep 6ix", "Load Me Up", and "Everything Is Automatic" were remixed by Chris Lord-Alge. "Deep Six", "Apparitions", and "Everything Is Automatic" originally appeared on ''
Underdogs
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...
''.)
Credits
*
Matthew Good Band
Matthew Good Band was a Canadian alternative rock band formed in Coquitlam, British Columbia in 1995. The band consisted of singer-songwriter/guitarist Matthew Good, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Genn, drummer Ian Browne and bassist Geoff Lloyd. Ll ...
**
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good (born June 29, 1971) is a Canadian musician. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the Matthew Good Band, one of the most successful alternative rock bands in Canada during the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the ...
-
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
**
Ian Browne -
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
**
Rich Priske -
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
**Geoff Lloyd - bass guitar on "Deep 6ix", "
Apparitions
Apparition may refer to:
Supernatural
*Apparitional experience, an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience
* A vision, something seen in a dream, trance, or religious ecstasy
*Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear ...
" and "
Everything Is Automatic
"Everything is Automatic" is a song by the Matthew Good Band. It was released as the first single from the band's second studio album, '' Underdogs''.
Track listing
Inspiration
In a 1997 interview, Good said that he was inspired to write "Every ...
"
**
Dave Genn
David Robert Madison Genn is a Canadian musician, producer, and songwriter. He is a member of the rock group 54-40, and a former member of the Matthew Good Band.
Early life
Genn was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 2 March 1969. He is the ...
- Guitar,
Keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
;Additional personnel
*
Todd Kerns
Todd "Dammit" Kerns is a Canadian musician who has worked with several Canadian bands, most notably The Age of Electric. Kerns is currently the bass guitarist and back up vocalist for Slash in the band Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The ...
- backing vocals on "Hello Time Bomb" and "Born To Kill"
*Natasha Duprey - Phone Sex on "The Future is X-Rated"
*Centennial High School Cheerleading Squad - Cheerleading on "Giant"
**Kristy Holmes
**Kimberly Barber
**Melanie Barber
**Sara Correia
**Caroline Croteau
**Kristin Sims
**Karin Anstey
**Tracey Mcdonald
**Megan Leigh
**Marjolyn Ustaris
; Production
*
Warne Livesey
Warne Livesey (born 12 February 1959) is an English/Canadian music producer, mixing engineer, songwriter and musician. He has produced Midnight Oil, The The, Matthew Good Band and Deacon Blue.
Life and career
Warne Livesey started his career in ...
- Producer, Engineer, Mixer
*Zach Blackstone - Engineer
*Steve Kaplan (
BJG Studios,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
) - Mixer
*Chris Lord-Alge (
BJG Studios,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
) - Mixer
*Tim Young - Mastering
*Legal: Simkin & Co.
*Accounting: Davidson & Co.
*Ken Turta - Live sound
*Christi Thompson - Good's assistant
*Chimo Robichaud - Instrument technician
*Horshack -
A&R
*Jay Blakesberg -
Photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
*Vincent Libby - Design concept
*Garnet Armstrong - Album design
*Kiley Redhead - Album design
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
1999 albums
Matthew Good albums
Atlantic Records albums
Universal Music Canada albums
Albums produced by Warne Livesey
Albums recorded at Greenhouse Studios
Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year albums